Lifting Veil on Analyses of Political Fragmentations: A Critical Review of the “Cleavage Theses” in Iraqi Kurdistan Studies

This article focuses on political divisions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Fragmentation has consistently influenced both the political history and current politics of Iraqi Kurdistan. Consequently, understanding the historical and the current state of regional politics, as well as its future course, requires an awareness of political divisions. Due to this practical reality, political fragmentation is a subject addressed in numerous studies across various social science disciplines. Although many works discuss political schisms, only a few focus solely on divisions. Nevertheless, there is a scattered but rich analytical context for political cleavages, as these are addressed from diverse perspectives across multiple studies. This article first presents a bird's eye view of this analytical context and then critically assesses the literature on fragmentation in Iraqi Kurdistan.